When last week, my father celebrated his second wedding, he asked my brother to say a few words after the ceremony writes Julia Stephenson

'I hope you won’t be offended that I haven’t asked you?’ he asked me nervously.  Au contraire, I reminded him, there are some advantages to being female, and one of them is not having to speak in public very often.

However, when the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection asked if I would give a two-minute talk, along some of their other supporters, at the House of Commons recently (they were promoting their popular campaign to abolish the testing of cleaning products on animals) I blanched with horror at the thought and promptly agreed.

Greedy bankers have triggered a global recession with their rash, brash optimism.

Ariel Leve sympathises with scientists who believe that indulging in negative thoughts can be helpful for managing anxiety and preparing for realistic outcomes.

READ MORE 

Widely regarded as a founding father of peace studies, Johan Galtung reflects on fifty years of work - and on the future - in conversation with Jan Oberg

WATCH VIDEO HERE

In 2003, Nelson Mandela invited Annie Lennox to perform at an AIDS Charity concert in South Africa. The day after the concert, Mandela gave a press conference: AIDS in Africa is genocide, he said, with 17 million dead and women and children becoming the frontline victims.   

Annie Lennox has always been a well-informed woman but she was shocked. ‘ I thought I need to sit up and listen. The world needs to sit up and listen. Generations are being wiped out, millions of babies are orphans, women just like me are dying and we're sitting around and reading about 'Celebrities Without Makeup,' she said. 'That moment, as I listened to Nelson Mandela, propelled me forward. I evolved from being a singer-songwriter-performer-mother-woman to being an activist.'

A man has two of the best tickets for the FA Cup Final.  As he sits down another guy comes along.

'Anyone sitting there?' he asks.

'No,' the man says, 'It's free.

'Incredible!' exclaims the other guy. 'Who in their right mind would buy a prime seat at the Final - the biggest sporting  event of the year -  and not use it?'

When disaster strikes resist the temptation to scream 'Why Me?' writes Diane Southam. Try asking 'Why not me?' It’s far more empowering

Water has played a big part in my life this year. Even as I write I’m struggling to concentrate because Bob the Builder is busy drilling up the road outside the front door of my temporary (more of that later) home.

I'm also finding it hard to resist a self-pitying whinge that goes something like this: Out of all the houses in this street why did the water main have to burst outside mine?